Contemplating his life’s work, his ability to continue and his future, an old man comes to the realization that it’s time to step aside for a younger generation. This is not a poignant moment at the end of a movie, it’s a poignant moment at the end of a moviemaker’s career.

Associated Press

Hayao Miyazaki, one of animation’s most admired and successful directors, adjusts his glasses during a press conference explaining his retirement in Tokyo Friday, Sept. 6.

Hayao Miyazaki, one of Japan’s most important filmmakers, explained Friday his reasons for calling it quits, after a glittering career that saw him raise the artistic standards of Japanese animation and establish global popularity for its distinctive aesthetic.

Having said several times in the past that he would retire, Mr. Miyazaki, 72, insisted that this time it was for real.

“My time for long animated films has come to an end,” he said, noting that he was tiring and losing concentration more easily. “I need to step away from the desk half an hour sooner than I would have needed to when I was making ‘Ponyo,’” he added.

Another movie would now take six or seven years to complete, he said, longer than in the past.

Also at the heart of his decision is his unwillingness to compromise on his approach in a rapidly developing industry. Mr. Miyazaki still relies on hand-drawing when animation around the world is all about computer graphics, an approach that does not lend itself to a rapid turnaround of ideas into finished work.

Asked for a signing off message for his fans across the world, he said in typically laconic style: “Watch the movies, everything I want to say is there.”

His dynamic depiction of nature and supernature writ large grabbed the hearts of moviegoers around the world. His films were brimming with blue skies, vast oceans, bracing winds, supernatural creatures, memorable characters and offbeat technology.

“I wanted to tell children that this world is worth living in,” he said.

While the songs of his movies are sung by kindergartners, the broader themes underlying his work appeals to adults. Behind friendly characters, many of Mr. Miyazaki’s films explore such profound topics as the futility of war and the awesome power of nature while casting doubt on the drive for material prosperity.

“He was the first person, at least in the field of animated films, who was able to produce stories and pictures integrating human, nature and science – these three subjects – in harmony. And he was the best,” said Mikiro Kato, professor of cinema studies at Kyoto University.

Born in 1941, 11 months before Pearl Harbor, Mr. Miyazaki spent his childhood drawing war planes. His career path was set after watching the fantasy film “Panda and the Magic Serpent” as a teenager. Japan’s first color animated feature left a deep impression on him, in part because it was a domestic production. While he had hoped to create Japanese manga (comic books), he instead decided to become an animator. His first film, “The Castle of Cagliostro,” was released in 1979.

“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” in 1984 was his first major success, landing him an array of national awards. He helped establish Studio Ghibli the following year so he and his colleague Isao Takahata could focus on producing high-quality animated films. The studio became an animation powerhouse in Japan, scoring one commercial hit after another.

But it was “Spirited Away” that made Mr. Miyazaki and Ghibli almost synonymous with Japanese animation worldwide. While it became the biggest-grossing Japanese film ever, its international release gained Mr. Miyazaki plaudits from around the globe, establishing him as one of the world’s leading animators, and vastly expanding the international market for Japanese animation.
The film won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and an Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003.

Calling time on his movie-making exploits, Mr. Miyazaki said he wants to spend time improving his studio’s museum, as he always intended.

His departure from an active role in movie-making will leave a big hole to fill in Japan’s film industry, which hasn’t grown over the last decade.

“Among all the choices of movies, TV, cell phones and Internet, the younger generation is definitely shifting toward the Net when it comes to entertainment in their spare time. For them, it’s a nuisance and a risk to go to a theater and shell out Y1,300 ($13),” said Takashi Uchiyama, professor of media economics at Aoyama Gakuin University.

So will Mr. Miyazaki offer a hand in future projects at Studio Ghibli? Nah, he says, it’s time to leave it to others to take over. But he’ll be pottering around and if anyone sees him – including younger staff or children at the studio’s day care center – he still wants to project a certain image.

While getting older, he said, “I need to keep standing up as straight as I can, as I continue living.”

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